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by Ending_Daley



Series: The Sun And Stars And All That Which Hovers Above Us [2]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Baby Fic, F/M, Post Mockingjay, everything is sweet and things only hurt when it's emotional scaring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-11 03:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3312767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ending_Daley/pseuds/Ending_Daley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If someone told her three years ago that she would living in District 12 with Haymitch Abernathy and their child happily.<br/>She would have laughed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home

**Author's Note:**

> Helios - 3 months. 
> 
> You don't need to read the other piece to know what's going on.

The house was quiet when she tiptoed in the door. Worry trickled down her spine as she stepped into her dark home. The sun was setting behind her, allowing for shadows to spar from the furniture. A thought flicked in front of her eyes, an image, a memory. Dark rooms and foreboding instruments, that glistened with her blood on the floor. She hesitated, scared that if she stepped any further into her home that it would become a dream, the flash; her reality.

She wasn’t allowed to be happy and safe.

Effie straightened out her shoulders, rolling them slowly as she took a deep breath with eyes closed. They were beyond that, now. The war was won, Snow was dead, there was no danger. And yest, Effie was still haunted by nightmare and flashbacks during the day. Haymitch snapped more than he should have, but together they were working it out, slowly, painfully, and with a coarse lack of sleep.

‘Peeta,’ she whispered into the house, hoping the boy was there. She had left Haymitch in guard, only for two hours, but it was still long enough that she made him promise to call for Peeta if he so needed anything. She was weary to leave him alone, it wasn’t that she didn’t trust him. It was that he didn’t trust himself. ‘Peeta,’ she called again, a little louder. Nothing.

She stepped around the corner, from the foyer to the living room. The space was empty, darkening with the yellow light of the setting run. She was hesitant in her steps, the click of her heels were quiet against the floorboards as she peeped around corners before she stepped into the darkness.

Effie followed the empty living room, her heart pounding unnecessarily, into the little study that hugged the side of their home. The door creaked slowly as she pushed it open.

There, bathed in gold light was Haymitch, curled up on the old leather love seat that sat shoved under the large bay window.

Her heart settled, the worry that they had been snatched, or all a wonderful dream, fell from her shoulders. They were there, blissfully asleep. She lowered her messenger bag to the floor softly, toeing off her shoes as well. She crept over, watching them intently.  

Haymitch was asleep, chest rising and falling with his even breaths. He was leaning towards the back of the couch, body on a slight angle. It was as though, even in sleep, his mind knew to protect the little boy curled on his chest.

Effie sighed, stepping closer to her boys slowly, watching them in awe as the setting sun bathed them in a golden hue. Helios. Her son. Her sun.

She perched herself on the edge of the couch, in the crook of Haymitch’s knees. She leant forward, stroking her son’s back for a minute, revelling in the feel of his spine against her palm. He was real. He was there. He was hers. Her hand trailed up his cubby little arm, following it up to the boy’s chin she moved for his hair. Soft golden curls that ran around his crown. She loved his soft baby hair. Annie warned her not to get too attached to the boy’s beautiful curls, they were likely to disappear.

Her heart bloomed at the sight of her son. Three months old and she was still in love with him, her heart still skipped a beat when he looked at her, when he smiled, when he proved that he was growing. She could see shimmers of his personality already, cheekily mischievous. She only hoped that he would grow into his father’s personality.

Effie’s eyes drifted from the sleeping face of her Helios, to Haymitch. There was such a difference between the way he slept peacefully, to the nights where he had nightmares, or the days he had passed out drunk. He looked content. His mouth still pulled down slightly at the corners, a permanent frown. The lines on his face smoothed out, his features softened. She did the same to him as she had done her boy. Her fingers played with the ends of his hair, as she reminded herself to make sure he got it cut before it got too long, again.

Haymitch was not as deep of a sleeper as their young son. The slightest of sounds usually woke him, the man on high alert. He grumbled a little at the feeling of her fingers tugging on his hair, but he did not open is eyes. ‘You’re home?’ He asked, as though he wasn’t too sure if she was actually there.

He knew she was. She smelt like vanilla since she integrated herself into District 12 life, since she became a mother and bunkered down with Haymitch. She switched elegant, hideous in his opinion, frocks for simple dresses and expensive perfume for something as natural and common as vanilla.

His hand slipped from the boy’s leg, to wind around Effie’s calf, holding her in place, making sure she stayed. He was half asleep, but conscious of what he was doing. Some days Effie didn’t know where she stood in their household. Mother to his son, sure enough, but a permanent, wanted resident of District 12, she never quite knew.

Haymitch wasn’t very good with words, or picking up on her masked emotions. But, there were moments like that were he kept her grounded, subtly reminder her that she was loved and needed. Even in sleep he wanted her around.

‘I’m home,’ she beamed, regardless of the fact that he could not see her. Haymitch shifted slightly, his hand moving from her leg to find the hand that was still playing with his hair. He pulled her forward, encouraging her to lay on his chest. And, she did.

Head tucked under his shoulder, Effie sighed wistfully.

If someone told her three years ago that she would living in District 12 with Haymitch Abernathy and their child happily.

She would have laughed.  


End file.
